More than 4,400 children last year remained without parental care. According to the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family, the figure is by 6.6% higher than a year before, IPN reports.

Among the main reasons for the institution of the status of child without parental care are the leaving abroad of one or both of the parents (60.6% of children), deprivation of parental rights (10/6%), death of one or both of the parents (8.1%), non-fulfillment of parental rights (8.8%), lack of living conditions (5.0%).

Most often the children who remained without parental care benefitted from different family protection forms, such as integration into the extended family (57.6%), placement under the tutelage or guardianship of third persons (12.9%), reintegration into the biological family (12.3%) and placement in residential institutions (7.9%). Each third child was aged between 7 and 10 years (30.8%), while 76.2% of the children were from rural areas.

In 2016, Moldovan citizens adopted 105 children, as opposed to 88 children in 2015. Foreign citizens adopted 11 Moldovan children.